Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Sunshine and Love: New Paintings

After six months away from his easel, George Rodrigue
returns this fall to his instincts, painting throughout the quiet nights in
solitude.The canvases, dominated
by a Blue Dog and oftentimes a typical Rodrigue oak, are familiar, yet something is different in the feeling behind
the images.To the point, something
is different in his affect.

(pictured, George Rodrigue, October 2012; click photos throughout to enlarge-)

“People asked me all summer,” explains George, “‘What will
you paint once you’re back at your easel?’I said I didn’t know, but that it probably would relate
to my illness. Looking at these first canvases, that’s exactly what
happened.I’m painting hope, love,
happiness, sunshine, everything that I faced losing.”

Pretty heavy, I
thought as he spoke from his easel this morning.But then everything is heavy these
days, even as the world grows lighter and George’s paintings fill with
sunshine.(Before beginning this
post, I half-jokingly started one called “Poor Pitiful Me,” a saying my mother
attached to my self-imposed drama years ago.)

(pictured, Sunshine
Over My Future, 18x24 inches, the first painting completed by George
Rodrigue after returning to his easel this fall; click photo to enlarge-)

We’re struggling to grasp this new life, particularly with
regards to society and the public.George’s outlet is painting and mine is blogging, but otherwise, with the exception of commitments related to the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts, we live
a bit like hermits these days, as we contemplate the meaning of this second
chance.

Looking back at our calendar, usually booked months in
advance, we noted that in more than one year, we had not spent a dinner out
just the two of us.Accordingly, for the past four weeks we’ve enjoyed once each
weekend ‘date night,’ an evening set in stone.Our lives, or rather living,
depends, we’ve realized at last, on appreciating each other in action as much
as thought.And we marvel at our
ability to turn down with ease what we formerly saw as social obligations.

(pictured, The Path
Out of an Unknown Danger, 2012, acrylic on canvas by George Rodrigue, 20x16
inches)

Let’s face it, even when we have it bad, George and I have
it pretty good.I wrote this
summer about George Rodrigue as one “Lucky Dog,” and I thought a lot about the
nature of my own psyche--- how I worried constantly about George’s suffering,
struggling even now to relax my panic, while he worried only for my future.

(pictured, Love is All Around Me, 2012, acrylic on canvas
by George Rodrigue, 30x40 inches; click photo to enlarge-)

I recall a mindfulness exercise several years ago when my sister Heather lead
me blindfolded into the Arizona desert as part of a relationships class.Not permitted to speak, she guided me
silently around cacti and over rocks for close to an hour.At the end, the guide asked us both
about our feelings.

“I’m glad it’s over!” said my sister.“I was afraid the entire time that
Wendy would fall.”

I was fine, I
shrugged.My sister would never let anything happen to me.

On the return, Heather wore the blindfold, and I guided her
across the uneven sandy terrain, so different from our hometown beaches.

“I’m glad it’s over!” she sighed as we finished.“I was afraid the entire time that
Wendy would fall.”

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About Me

I was born on a military base and raised in Fort Walton Beach, FL.
Attended Trinity University in San Antonio, TX, majoring in Art History and English, followed by European Art and Architecture in Vienna, Austria, and graduate school at Tulane University in New Orleans.
Worked for the Rodrigue Gallery in New Orleans and later Carmel, CA, beginning in 1991, and married George Rodrigue in 1997.
I've written guest columns for publications including Gambit, Country Roads Magazine, and Louisiana Cultural Vistas. As of 2017 I live between New Orleans, Louisiana and Santa Fe, New Mexico. I work extensively on George Rodrigue exhibitions and publishing projects, and lecture widely on his art.
I remain involved full-time within Rodrigue gallery operations and the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts, with an ongoing focus on preserving and enhancing Rodrigue's artistic and philanthropic legacy.
My first solo book, "The Other Side of the Painting" (UL Press), was published October 2013.